Thanks in advance for the replies. I am wondering if there is anyone out there that I can talk to about being a short term contract IT / Networking Contractor. I currently work in a data center on the facilities side and am currently working on my A+, Networking +, CCNA, learning Linux, and Python. I am going to be moving to the Networking side of things for ~5 years until I meet my retirement goals. Once I meet my retirement goals, I am wanting to just do short term contracts, but I know nothing about it. I am hoping that I can speak to someone about this to learn how to best prepare myself. Thanks.
I'm a CCIE and in addition to my day job a good friend (also a CCIE) and I run a consulting biz doing short term contracts. What specifically do you want to know?
Hey, thanks for the reply. Are there short term contracts jobs that exist? If so, ballpark what might I make with a couple years experience and current certifications. What else should I learn to increase my skill set?
Now that I re-read your OP I kind of see that you want general and just getting started info, so here we go!
If you're just getting started I think the best way to learn the consulting biz is by working for a reseller or professional services company. It's a one two punch. You get exposed to more new deployment projects in a year than an average 'in place' engineer gets to see in 5 years. Because most networks just work if they're properly built, and because gear is expensive generally in-house engineers get to do a net new deployment or an upgrade once or twice a year. Working for a VAR you get a new one every week or month. It really accelerates your growth.
AND you get to see the business side of things. How to properly scope a project so everyone agrees on what success looks like and how many hours of work it takes to accomplish it. Building a BOM (bill of materials) AKA properly speccing all the equipment. Screw up and the project gets delayed while you wait for cable or the right optics, customer pissed. What a project manager does and doesn't do. Knowing typical customer personalities and political pitfalls. Knowing the lingo (DoD is different than west coast tech, haha!) and what each culture values. If you're lucky you get to peek at the financials and see what they're billing you out at, what their cost for you is, what they buy the equipment for vs what they sell it for, what % the sales guys take and so on.
Credentials matter. Even though it's stupid and not always a good judge of ability. So get certified. I'd get the CCNP on the Cisco side. IE wouldn't hurt but it's a BITCH of a test and requires significant time and money to study for and pass. Worth it IMO, it broke me into 6 figures and better yet opened the door to senior level positions.
Definitely you need to specialize in something. Doesn't matter what, but when you start to sell yourself as a consultant the jobs you get AND your reputation will be based on being the "X guy". I'm the firewall and security guy. You might be a R&S guy. Your friend might be the voice girl, etc.
This brings me to the short term contract market and how to approach it. IMO to make it viable you absolutely must not try to be all things to all things to all people. You need to identify 2-3 types of gigs that maximize profit and that you can systemize as much as possible. As an example, if you figure you're pretty good at deploying Cisco ISE, get yourself together a network readiness for ISE checklist. Run through it with the customer. Use what you learn to fill out your ISE deployment template. Pre-build the configs in your lab and have everything cut 'n paste ready. Deploy. Fill in your premade ISE as-built template and present the docs to the customer. Everything runs smooth as buttah, you look like a rockstar. Collect your $$. If you have 2 or 3 of these types of systemized offerings life and making $$ gets really easy.
In terms of landing the gigs in the first place what I would do is look at the list of existing resellers or pro-services companies in your area. Just call them and try to get a meeting with the manager that sources talent. Make it clear that you're an "X expert" and if they need help on projects using your skillset then you're a resource. Obviously it helps if your specialty is in demand. All you need is 2 or 3 GOOD RELATIONSHIPS to keep you relatively busy.
On the admin side of things make sure you get incorporated and are set up to do 1099, corp 2 corp depending on your preference and how the customers want to pay. Loads of info on this on the net. But you need to have this and some standard contracts so you don't look bush league when the question of how you want to be paid comes up. Also just have an attorney in your back pocket to run things by if needed.
There are probably some things I'm missing here, just vomiting out info, haha! In terms of how much you make that's up to your negotiating skills. I will say that for us as senior engineers $125 -$200/hr depending on the gig. YRMV wildly. :D
